1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods for composing music. More particularly, the present invention relates to the use of keypads on handheld devices for the composition of music.
2. Description of the Related Art
The wireless telephone market has grown rapidly in the past decade. Recent trends have focussed on the miniaturization of the wireless telephone concurrently with the expansion of the phone's capabilities. The wireless telephones typically come equipped with a processor and memory for managing not only the transmission and reception of telephone calls but also for the execution of a variety of software applications resident on the wireless handheld. For example, typical applications have included calendars, address books, and entertainment games. In some cases, the wireless user is able to customize the phone, including the configuration of the handheld display and the distinct telephone rings associated with the receipt of an incoming telephone call.
As the number of wireless telephone devices increase, so too is the desire to differentiate an individual's phone from others. For example, in a crowded room, it is often desirable to be able to differentiate a particular user's phone ring from that of others. To meet these and other objectives, wireless phone manufacturers and providers often provide ringtone options for consumers. That is, the ringing of the phone, i.e., the ringtones, may be customized for the particular user.
Generally, ringtones may be implemented on a wireless device in one or more of several methods. In particular, a ringtone sequence may be created by a software application on a host computer and transferred in a suitable format to the wireless device, for example through an infrared port or a direct electrical connection, such as through a USB port on the host computer. Unfortunately, this method requires a separate host computer to compose the sequence and is further limited in requiring hardware to transfer the completed sequence to the wireless phone device, thus preventing the wireless user from spontaneously composing a ringtone or other musical composition when separated from the host computer.
Ringtones are also available for downloading from the internet or from the cellular phone provider. In the first instance, a host computer is again typically required for receipt of the download, followed by a separate transfer step from the host computer to the wireless device. In the second instance, the number of available ringtones is typically limited. Unfortunately, neither instance offers the wireless user the creative latitude to create an original musical sequence, i.e., to compose music.
Another available method involves the manual creation of the ringtone sequence by the user by keying in manually the ringtone sequence. In the manual keying method, the user typically uses the wireless telephone keypad (i.e., the handset) to enter a sequence of keystrokes. While this method does permit musical composition directly from the keypad of the wireless device, the input sequence and display notations require significant user training. That is, the current methods for generating ringtone sequences on handsets are rather cumbersome. For example, for each note, a sequence of codes involving letters, numbers and symbols is typically required. This is not an intuitive step and interferes with the creative process. Further, considerable effort is required to decipher the displayed sequence, again interfering with the creative musical composition efforts.
Accordingly, what is needed is an easy to learn method for keypad musical composition that generates an equally easy to comprehend display of the entered sequence.